THE HISTORY OF
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| a photo & video essay by Ira H. Gallen
For all you Babyboomers, Scholars and Fans of early Television that get in touch with me on a regular basis wanting to know more about how Television was created, this section on RCA was created to begin exploring that industry, through all the rare films and photos, Ive uncovered over the last twenty five years. What better way to start then to explore the world of one of
its legendary pioneers David Sarnoff who rose from the ranks as
a wireless operator at the Marconi Company , to chairman of the
board of the Radio Corporation of America, and founder of its
subsidiary, the National Broadcasting Co.
David Sarnoff was a Russian immigrant,born in 1891. He would rise to national prominence when on the night of April 14, 1912, when working as a wireless operator in New York City for the American Marconi Company, located atop the Wanamaker department store received one of the first distress calls from a ship 1,400 miles away. “SS Titanic ran into a iceberg, sinking fast”. For the next 72 hours , Sarnoff relayed word of the survivors to waiting relatives. After RCA in 1919 took over the Marconi Co, Sarnoff would become
its president in the 1930’s , and worked to make the company a
leader in Radios, and later Television sets, electronic parts
and equipment.
He created NBC in 1926, to bring about a programing service that
would stimulate sales of RCA Radios. By the 1930’s Sarnoff began
building NBC in a means to generate sales of there RCA television
receivers.
Because of his service to the country during World War 11, which
included coordinating D-Day communications, Sarnoff was named
a brigadier general in the US Army. From that day on he was none
as “The General”. |
